Turning Grass Into Fuel

OilPrice.com
Written by Brian Westenhaus
Friday, 05 November 2010 17:05

Researchers at the University of Illinois have completed the first extensive geographic yield and economic analysis of potential bioenergy grass crops in the Midwestern United States. It’s the best work yet and suggests some impressive potential.

Federal regulations mandate that 79 billion liters of biofuels must be produced annually from non-corn biomass by 2022. The large grasses, switchgrass and miscanthus, could provide the needed biomass with the added benefits of better nitrogen fixation and carbon capture, higher ethanol volumes per acre and lower water requirements than corn.

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